Etta Josselyn Giffin Explained

Etta Josselyn Giffin
Other Names:Etta Josselyn Giffen
Birth Name:Esther Josselyn Giffin
Birth Date:July 31, 1863
Birth Place:Newark, Ohio
Death Date:July 29, 1932 (aged 69)
Occupation:Librarian
Known For:first director, National Library for the Blind

Esther "Etta" Josselyn Giffin (July 31, 1863 – July 29, 1932), sometimes seen as Etta Josselyn Giffen, was an American librarian. She was the first director of the National Library for the Blind in Washington, D.C., and a delegate to several international conferences on libraries and services for blind people.

Early life and education

Giffin was born in Newark, Ohio, and raised in Ottawa, Kansas.[1] [2]

Career

Giffin was the first director of the National Library for the Blind in Washington, D.C. Beginning in 1897 with basic braille texts and a reading room at the Library of Congress,[3] she built a large and diverse collection of materials and established an entertainment schedule, including public readings, game tables with adapted cards and boards,[4] and musical concerts, including works and performances by blind musicians and composers. She raised funds,[5] and hired blind braille copyists to transcribe audio materials.[6] [7] The reading room was closed in 1911,[8] and the library was incorporated as an independent organization in 1912, with Giffin as its director.[9] [10] [11]

Giffin gave a lecture about her work at the American Association of Workers for the Blind, held in Boston in 1907.[12] She was a delegate to at least five International Conferences on the Blind, in Brussels (1902),[13] Edinburgh (1905), Manchester (1908), Vienna (1910),[14] Cairo (1911),[15] [16] and London (1914).[17] [18] "I am happy to state that practical aid for the blind is finding its way rapidly into all parts of the world," she told a newspaper in 1911 on her return from Cairo.[19] During and after World War I, she arranged for recreational and rehabilitation materials to be provided to military hospitals for American soldiers blinded in battle.

Publications

Personal life

Giffin died in 1932, two days before her 69th birthday.[21] She was the subject of a posthumous biography, Etta Josselyn Giffin: Pioneer Librarian for the Blind (1959) by Victoria Faber Stevenson, with an introduction by Helen Keller.[22]

Notes and References

  1. News: 1910-05-03 . Kansas Woman in Library . 1 . The Topeka State Journal . 2023-05-07 . Newspapers.com.
  2. News: 1902-02-10 . Etta Giffin's Work; What a Bright Ottawa Girl is Doing for the Afflicted . 3 . The Ottawa Daily Republic . 2023-05-07 . Newspapers.com.
  3. News: 1898-12-23 . Reading for the Blind; A Unique Feature of the Congressional Library . 2 . The Press Herald . 2023-05-07 . Newspapers.com.
  4. News: Yoder . Florence E. . 1914-02-07 . Where the Blind Are Happy; A Sidelight Story on What One Woman Has Done to Bring Cheer to the Unfortunate . 9 . The Washington Times . 2023-05-07 . Newspapers.com.
  5. Summer 1911 . National Library for the Blind . The New Outlook for the Blind . 5 . 2 . 33.
  6. Web site: Appold . Juliette . 2022-03-03 . Etta Josselyn Giffin: A Role Model of Women's Enduring Leadership NLS Music Notes . 2023-05-06 . The Library of Congress.
  7. News: 1912-12-26 . Library for New Blind Institution . 3 . The Evening Mail . 2023-05-07 . Newspapers.com.
  8. News: 1911-07-08 . Sightless Washingtonians Feel that they are Exiles Since Losing Reading Room at Congressional Library . 6 . The Washington Times . 2023-05-07 . Newspapers.com.
  9. News: 1911-12-02 . National Library for Blind People Planned . 1 . Jackson Daily News . 2023-05-07 . Newspapers.com.
  10. News: 1912-01-08 . Make Books for the Blind . 4 . Carbondale Free Press . 2023-05-07 . Newspapers.com.
  11. News: 1915-12-08 . Library for the Blind Re-Elects its Officers . 10 . Evening Star . 2023-05-07 . Newspapers.com.
  12. https://books.google.com/books?id=ocIJAAAAIAAJ&q=Josselyn&pg=PA83 "Program of the Ninth Convention of the American Association of Workers for the Blind"
  13. News: 1902-06-13 . Goes to Europe in Aid of Blind . 2 . The Philadelphia Inquirer . 2023-05-07 . Newspapers.com.
  14. News: 1910-09-28 . Blind Conditions Studied; Miss Etta Giffin Returns from Trip to Europe . 5 . The Washington Herald . 2023-05-07 . Newspapers.com.
  15. Spring 1911 . Correspondence and Jottings . The New Outlook for the Blind . 5 . 1 . 15.
  16. News: 1911-03-23 . Miss Etta J. Giffin Only Woman Delegate . 1 . The Frederick Post . 2023-05-07 . Newspapers.com.
  17. Book: International Conference on the Blind . Report of the International Conference on the Blind and Exhibition of the Arts and Industries of the Blind Held at The Church House, Westminster June 18th to 24th 1914 . 1914 . Agnew, & Co. Ld. . Inc American Printing House for the Blind . 16.
  18. News: 1914-05-14 . To World Blind Conference; Misses Helen Keller and Etta J. Giffin Elected Delegates . 7 . Evening Star . 2023-05-07 . Newspapers.com.
  19. News: 1911-03-23 . Miss Etta J. Giffin Only Woman Delegate . 1 . The Frederick Post . 2023-05-07 . Newspapers.com.
  20. Giffin . Etta Josselyn . September 1925 . National Library for the Blind . Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness . en . 19 . 2 . 37–40 . 10.1177/0145482X2501900220 . 220538210 . 0145-482X.
  21. News: 1932-08-07 . Miss Etta Giffen's Work to Continue; Aides to Carry on at Library for the Blind in Tribute to Her . 22 . Evening Star . 2023-05-07 . Newspapers.com.
  22. Book: Stevenson, Victoria Faber . Etta Josselyn Giffin: Pioneer Librarian for the Blind . 1959 . National Library for the Blind . en.

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